She picked up a bundle of firewood and moved it into the house. Then, she went out again. These firewood were to be used during the New Year, for Changsheng’s mother to fry up some meatballs and Youtiao. It was Yan Huan’s first New Year in the village, and things were about to get busy. In the past, people were busy during the New Year too, but things weren’t so hands-on.
She and Changsheng’s mother worked together to cook the meat and fry the youtiao. Things were much faster with an extra pair of hands around. In the past, Changsheng’s mother had to toil from day to night to get things done, but everything was ready before noon this time.
They were all set for the New Year. Changsheng’s mother even made meat dumplings—although the filling mainly consisted of vegetables—since meat didn’t come by easy.
The villagers rarely got to eat meat, except a morsel or two during the New Year.
When night fell, the quiet village was unusually loud—since there was someone yelling and cursing at the entrance of the village, for some reason.
Changsheng’s mother wiped her hands on the apron and went out to take a look. Yan Huan wasn’t interested in such things, so she remained in her room and spaced out on the warm bed.
The noise swelled, and the cussing eventually turned into wails.
The wailing continued as Changsheng’s mother returned.
Changsheng’s mother sighed. “My goodness, for such a thing to happen… Jin Gen has not returned after leaving the village, and his mother is worried sick.”
“Ah…” said Yan Huan indifferently. She didn’t feel happy or smug about it. To be precise, she didn’t feel anything. What did it have to do with her anyway?
Changsheng’s mother sighed.
“Hai… What a tragedy. How is Jin Gen’s mother going to survive if her son really goes missing?”
Yan Huan pulled a face. That was none of her business. She’s cold-blooded, and she admits as much. She would never be able to feel sympathetic towards her enemies.
Why should she show them sympathy when they never showed her any?
Jin Gen’s mother made a ruckus outside the village, and soon the villagers had formed a circle around her, trying to calm her down. They failed, however. How could a grown man go missing like this? Jin Gen’s mother had not seen him for the entire day, and was bawling her eyes out. She then pleaded with the villagers to go down the mountain and look for her son, for she was a poor woman who could not do it by herself.
But going down the mountains at this time was too much of a risk. Everyone in the village knew how dangerous the mountain pass was even in the day, and none of them was willing to take such a risk. Plus, Jin Gen wasn’t very well-liked among the village in the first place. Some might even call it a good riddance.
Even so, he was part of the small community, and no one dared to express their discontent in front of his mother.
And so the villagers set out with torches and flashlights, thinking that Jin Gen might be fooling around in the village somewhere. They weren’t willing to go down the mountain, that’s for certain, but searching around the village was okay since it wasn’t dangerous. They agreed to hold a meeting on the next day, to discuss sending a search party down the mountain, if they failed to find him.
The villagers searched for an entire night, looking through every nook and cranny, but they couldn’t find him. At this point, they were certain that Jin Gen had to be at the bottom of the mountain or some part of the forest, or else they would surely have found him already. Jin Gen’s mother sat on the ground in the wintry coldness, bawling and cussing at Jin Gen and his father.
“Have you found him?” whispered Changsheng’s mother. “It has been a whole night. Surely you must have found something?”
Changsheng shook his head. “Nothing at all. Who knows, he might have spent the night at the bottom of the mountain, and will come back by himself in the morning.”
“Hopefully,” said Changsheng’s mother. She was a kind woman, and she kept thinking about how Jin Gen’s mother was going to survive if she lost her only son. She put herself in her shoes, forgetting about all the wrongs they had done in the past.
Yan Huan stayed in her room and did not join in the discussion. She wasn’t from the village, and everyone but Changsheng and her mother were only strangers to her. Their lives did not concern her, nor was there anything she could do to help them.
On the second day, Jin Gen still did not return.
Every young person in the village, including Changsheng, had gone down the mountain to search for him. Originally, they didn’t even need to make this trip, but now Changsheng’s mother had to worry for him all over again.
The search party returned at night with the same result. Changsheng’s mother threw a fit again, but it didn’t help any bit to bring her lost son back. Deep down, everyone was a little relieved that the person that had gone missing was Jin Gen and not their own children. They couldn’t even begin to imagine what they would do if it had been them.
Many people in the village felt the same way as Yan Huan.
The village might be better off with a deadbeat who was always up to no good. Who knows, he might go around stealing again and cause more troubles for the villagers. If that happened, they wouldn’t even be able to celebrate the New Year in peace.
Jin Gen never returned, and Jin Gen’s mother kept crying, but no amount of tears brought her son back. Jin Gen’s mother began behaving strangely. Whenever she met someone, she would ask them if her son had returned. Sometimes, she would call the women in the village vixens and accuse them of seducing and abducting her son.
After a while, no one approached Jin Gen’s mother again. They shared the same thought: It’s your problem that your son had gone missing, not ours, so don’t go pinning the blame on us. And given Jin Gen’s character, he might simply have been caught doing something bad, gotten a good beating, and would come back someday.
In the end, no one got to celebrate the New Year in peace, since Jin Gen’s mother wailed all day, and the dogs would bark along whenever they heard her wailing. There hadn’t been a single peaceful day in the village since Jin Gen went missing.
“Come eat dumplings.”
